University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Works Through First Spring Workout on Sunday
3/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Year three of the Todd Monken era at Southern Miss could not have started any better for the Golden Eagles who opened their spring practice here Sunday afternoon at the Joe P. Park Practice Facility.
The team worked out in helmets and shorts for two hours and 45 minutes in ideal weather conditions that saw sunny skies reach about 70 degrees during the late-afternoon practice.
For Monken, the team's practice matched its picturesque afternoon.
"It's better, or at least it seemed like it," said Monken of the first practice, compared to his two previous spring starts. "Of course I thought the last two were really good.
"This, though, is the most fun we have in coaching. That is to come out during the spring and get to develop guys. We take a day off in between to teach and meet and then come back at it so that their bodies (recover between practices). We have to utilize every day."
Under Monken's leadership, the Golden Eagle program has bettered itself each year and the goal is no different for 2015.
"We made great strides last year, but it didn't show up like we would have liked in the win column," said Monken. "If we continue to make those same strides this year then we will put ourselves in a position to win a heck of a lot more games."
The coach was asked after practice where were the areas that the Eagles needed to excel in for them to be successful next fall.
"It always starts up front, because everybody has skill guys that can run and catch," said Monken. "Our advantage has to be that we have to be better up front offensively and get better collectively on defense.
"It's not that we haven't had talented guys (on defense) like Khyri (Thornton) and Rakeem (Nunez-Roches), but we need to be more consistent and have a deeper rotation of guys. I thought last year we relied on a couple of guys that played a majority of the snaps and we got tired."
The Golden Eagles return to the practice fields Tuesday with a 4 p.m., practice. The workout is open to the general public.
